Epilepsy Day Purple Monuments and Anti-Stigma Initiatives

Rome, 13 February (Adnkronos Salute) - As every year, on February 13, International Epilepsy Day, initiatives are organized all over the world to raise awareness of this disease and fight the stigma that accompanies it.

Among these - Neuromed explains in a note - the violet lighting of the most representative monuments of the various cities stand out, such as the Reggia Vanvitelliana in Caserta, and the virtual meeting, on February 16, between Alfredo D'Aniello, child neuropsychiatrist at the Centro Epilepsy Irccs Neuromed of Pozzilli (Is) and councilor of the campania-molise macro area of ​​the Italian League against epilepsy (Lice), and the teachers of some Institutes of Rome and Milan as part of the 'A school of epilepsy' initiative promoted by the Italian Epilepsy Association “It is an initiative aimed at increasing knowledge about epilepsy and its clinical manifestations - says D'Aniello - fighting the stigma and prejudices that still accompany it, addressing important topics such as the learning methods of children with epilepsy as well as the management of free time and sports activities and, lastly, to offer teachers and all school staff information on the correct methods of managing and rescuing children in the course of an epileptic seizure and the methods of administering 'emergency' drugs in progress of crisis".

Epilepsy is one of the most frequent chronic neurological conditions It is estimated that around 600,000 people suffer from it in Italy, 6 million in Europe and around 50 million worldwide.

It is a condition - explains the note - which in most cases can be treated successfully thanks to the pharmacological therapies available, but a third of patients do not respond to treatment with important implications for the quality of life The unpredictability of epileptic crises can in fact invalidate the work, school and emotional context.

If we add to this the uneven access to care, which is still recorded above all in low-income countries, as well as the stigma present in all countries, even Western ones, it is clear why this condition is highly pervasive "It is for these reasons - explains Professor Giancarlo Di Gennaro, director of the Uo Epilepsy Center of the Irccs Neuromed and coordinator of the Epilepsy Study Group of Sin (Italian Society of Neurology) - that the World Health Organization, in May 2022, placed epilepsy, together with other neurological conditions, at the center of an ambitious ten-year plan of national and international policies.

The strategic objectives of the Igap-10 plan (ten-year global action plan for epilepsy and other neurological disorders) are to make the management of these pathologies a priority in national policies; provide large-scale timely effective diagnoses; being able to implement prevention strategies; foster research and innovation in these fields, strengthen an approach to these conditions that follows the model of public health” Against stigma - reads the note - the specialists of the Neuromed Center contribute with their work to promoting correct information and training as much as possible, not only for families who struggle with this condition on a daily basis, but also within society itself.

"Stigma is a word whose etymology is Greek and means stain, prejudice, discredit that continues over time - recalls Liliana Grammaldo, neuropsychologist and psychotherapist of the Neuromed Epilepsy Center - It starts from a large slice of the population towards another, an illness or an ethnicity, with the result of preventing their approach Stigma is something that separates.

An individual one derives from this social stigma The person with epilepsy embraces the concept of being worth less.

This happens because the identity is not biological but a social gift If from the occurrence of the first crisis a child, a person is not told that his value is independent of epilepsy but is ontological, inherent, that child, that person mirrors this and accepts that he is of lesser value”.

Epilepsy commonly begins with seizures in childhood Although many forms resolve spontaneously, 30-40% of children will continue to have seizures, sometimes drug-resistant, even as adults.

Worldwide, it is estimated that around one million children with epilepsy transition into adulthood each year “The transition - underlines D' Aniello - it is a process that concerns not only those children and adolescents who continue to present crises in adulthood but also those children who, despite having well-controlled crises, have other neurological or psychopathological comorbidities.

There is no specific age to start the transition process but most experts identify late childhood, early adolescence as the age in which to undertake this journey It is a slow process, which puts the adolescent and his family at the center and which requires specialized figures such as child neuropsychiatrist, neurologist and psychologist who work in a multidisciplinary team and who can also make use of the help of other professional figures such as, for example, the gynecologist or the psychiatrist”.

There is no specific age to start the transition process but most experts identify late childhood, early adolescence as the age in which to undertake this journey It is a slow process, which puts the adolescent and his family at the center and which requires specialized figures such as child neuropsychiatrist, neurologist and psychologist who work in a multidisciplinary team and who can also make use of the help of other professional figures such as, for example, the gynecologist or the psychiatrist”.

There is no specific age to start the transition process but most experts identify late childhood, early adolescence as the age in which to undertake this journey It is a slow process, which puts the adolescent and his family at the center and which requires specialized figures such as child neuropsychiatrist, neurologist and psychologist who work in a multidisciplinary team and who can also make use of the help of other professional figures such as, for example, the gynecologist or the psychiatrist”.

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